You are here: Home » Chapter 16 » Verse 56 » Translation
Sura 16
Aya 56
56
وَيَجعَلونَ لِما لا يَعلَمونَ نَصيبًا مِمّا رَزَقناهُم ۗ تَاللَّهِ لَتُسأَلُنَّ عَمّا كُنتُم تَفتَرونَ

Muhammad Asad

As it is, they ascribe - out of what We provide for them as sustenance - a share unto things of which they know nothing.1 By God, you shall most certainly be called to account for all your false imagery!
  • According to most of the classical commentators, this relates to the custom of the pagan Arabs - mentioned in 6:136 - to dedicate a part of their agricultural produce and cattle to their deities; and because those deities were mere figments of imagination, they are described here as "things of which they know nothing". However, as I have pointed out in note 120 on 6:136, the above statement bears a much wider, more general meaning: it connects directly with the three preceding verses of this surah - namely, with the attribution of a share (nasib) in God's creativeness - and thus of a decisive influence on one's life - to "causes" or "powers" other than Him. This view has also been advanced by Razi (with a specific reference to astrological speculations) in the concluding sentence of his commentary on the above verse.